Concepts for High Desert Corridor unveiled

Transportation officials unveiled Wednesday various concepts for a proposed High Desert Corridor from the Antelope Valley to San Bernardino County that would allow travelers to bypass some of the busiest freeways in Los Angeles County, and potentially link the California High Speed Rail project to Las Vegas.

The proposed corridor would stretch 63 miles from east to west across Palmdale, Lancaster, Adelanto, Victorville as well as the town of Apple Valley. These are some of the fastest growing areas in the region, yet are currently making do with undersize and flood-prone roadways.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Caltrans are looking at several concepts for the proposed corridor, all of which will be presented in a series of public hearings from July 15-22.

Planners are considering a freeway only or a freeway and railway that would connect to the California High Speed Rail system, which is envisioned someday to span the length of the state, and to the XpressWest bullet train from Victorville to Las Vegas.

"For the railway, we are looking into designing up to speeds of 180 miles per hour, and designing it to be interoperable between the two systems," Metro project manager Robert Machuca said.

A bikeway and tollway may also be incorporated into the project -- the latter to generate revenue for private companies that invest money to help build the corridor.

Currently, there is only funding available to finish the environmental review next year and nothing else. Aside from public-private partnerships, Metro and Caltrans plan to seek state and federal funding for the project.

Machuca said a preliminary estimate of the cost -- if all the proposed components are built -- is about $5 billion.

He said an "aggressive" target for breaking ground on the project is 2016.

A study is underway to determine whether wind, solar and natural gas facilities can be built alongside the corridor, to serve as an extra source of revenue and to increase the capacity of the region's power grid.

Michael Cano, transportation deputy to county Supervisor Michael Antonovich, said the corridor has far-reaching benefits.

"The biggest beneficiaries would be the rest of the Los Angeles and San Bernardino basins," he said.

"Currently the 210 and 10 freeway from the 5 to 15 is the only major usable connection for truck freight, and interstate travel," he said. "What the High Desert Corridor will do is soak up the trucks and cars that are traveling through the Santa Clarita, San Fernando, Crescent and San Gabriel Valleys, reducing pollution and increasing travel speeds and freight distribution speeds."

Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford said the project would be a boon to the Antelope Valley economy.

"By connecting the airports in Palmdale and Victorville, it will help generate economic growth across the entire high desert, and make the concept of an inland port more viable," he said.

Caltrans senior environmental planner Karl Price admitted, however, that building in the high desert does come with a price.

"Biology is a major, major concern," he said. "There's a lot of relatively pristine area.

"We've done our best to adjust the project to avoid impacts but, unfortunately, that's not always possible. When impacts are unavoidable, we do our best to minimize them."

Bart Reed, executive director of the Transit Coalition, a grass-roots organization that advocates for improving transportation systems throughout the region, asserted the most basic concept for the corridor should include a railway.

"That would close the loop and provide connectivity between Los Angeles and Las Vegas," he said. "It would connect the Antelope Valley to the world."

"There's absolutely no downside to it," he said. "Connecting the Central Valley, Antelope Valley, Las Vegas and Los Angeles -- that would put us in a great position for the next 100 years."